Edward West (economist and judge)

He was born in 1782 (baptized 5 April 1782) to John Balchen West, Receiver General for Hertfordshire. His parents died when he was still very young and Edward was brought up by his uncle, Martin Browne Ffolkes, and his wife Fanny, daughter of Sir John Turner, 3rd Baronet, at Hillington Hall near King's Lynn. Edward's sister Frances later married Captain Lane of the 47th Regiment of Foot. His grandfather Temple West was a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy. He then became a Fellow of his college. In 1814 he was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple. ==In India==

West was appointed Recorder of the King's Court of Bombay and knighted in the same year. He with his wife reached Bombay on 1 February 1823. He became Chief Justice on 8 May 1823. He chose to enforce order leading to being seen unfavourably by many officers in the employment of the East India Company. He suspended several barristers and dismissed some officers, notably William Erskine, Master in Equity, suspected of improbity (mostly taking bribes in cases). Mountstuart Elphinstone and some other Europeans went on the side of Erskine. Erskine's position was taken by Fenwick, a nephew of West. George Norton, a recently appointed Advocate General for Bombay introduced fees that were seven times that received in England. Norton and West clashed on this order. ==Works==

In 1815 West wrote an essay arguing against the "impolicy of any great restriction on the importation of corn" which was appreciated by the economist David Ricardo. In 1825 he wrote a pamphlet Price of Corn and Wages of Labour in which he expressed what is now known as the law of diminishing returns. This essay was reprinted in 1903 by Johns Hopkins University with a preface by Jacob Hollander. ==Death==

Edward West died at Poona where he was buried. A scholarship was started in Bombay by the citizens in his honour. ==Family==

Edward West married Lucretia Ffolkes, daughter of his guardian uncle, on 26 August 1822 at Marylebone Church. The couple had a daughter Fanny Anna in 1826. Lucretia died during the birth of her second child (the infant son also died) in 1828, shortly after the death of her husband. Fanny Anna West was brought up in England, at Hillington Hall, King's Lynn. == References ==